[koiloco]

I'm considering the Emotiva DC-1 and Teac UD301:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00L9HZ5QW?cache=78ee52bccc4d352643d7811c999d8bc8&pi=SX200_QL40&qid=1404702402&sr=8-2#ref=mp_s_a_1_2


The thing is i can't also afford an amp, so the built in amp must be good enough.
The Emotiva sounds promising, but lacks DSD, the Teac has DSD.
It's so hard to decide ):

Don't get hung up on DSD... Just my personal experience

 

[palmfish]

Don't get hang up on DSD... Just my personal experience

Actually, don't get hung up on format. I have 320 Kbps MP3 rips of red book CD's that sound better than many of my SACD's.

 

[Zoom25]

  Don't get hung up on DSD... Just my personal experience

+1. There really isn't much out there in the grand scheme of things. If all you listen to is classical, jazz and acoustic, then maybe consider DSD.
 
Quote:

  The built-in headphone amp in the DC-1 is quite atrocious to be honest, especially with HD800. It's actaully quite terrible with every headphones I've thrown at it.

Yeah so far I tried my D2000 and they seemed punchy on it, but not the best I've heard them.
 

I'm considering the Emotiva DC-1 and Teac UD301:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00L9HZ5QW?cache=78ee52bccc4d352643d7811c999d8bc8&pi=SX200_QL40&qid=1404702402&sr=8-2#ref=mp_s_a_1_2


The thing is i can't also afford an amp, so the built in amp must be good enough.
The Emotiva sounds promising, but lacks DSD, the Teac has DSD.
It's so hard to decide ):

Call Dangerous Music and ask them if they've got a used Source in stock. I bought my used, like-new DC-1 from Emotiva directly with full warranty for $400 + the usual (shipping/taxes/customs). You might be able to find one for cheaper. It will definitely work well with HD800. I swear I remember having this conversation before. Maxvla also mentioned some Matrix gear. Deja vu

 

[Fearless1]

The best DAC I have owned to date is the Benchmark DAC2, but I keep the Rega around because of the HD800. It is not always about what is better, it is about the synergy with the HD800.
 
  Rega>>>Fosgate Signature>>>HD800 is the best thing I have yet to hear.

 

[pearljam50000]

How does the HD800 compare to 1500$ active nearfield monitors, SQ wise?

 

[Currawong]

What's the best 500$ DAC, or less, with HD800?

 
The Centrance M8 was on sale for <$500 a few months ago. I'm pretty pleased with it in balanced mode. I second the other comments on the Geek Out -- I think it is fantastic but share the feelings about their campaigns. 
 

How does the HD800 compare to 1500$ active nearfield monitors, SQ wise?

 
I only have the ADAM ARTist 3s here, which are ~$1000 a pair. The HD-800s have more consistent bass performance and go deeper, but much of that is because I need better room conditioning to make monitors work. Maybe a larger pair than the 3s would do better. 

 

[PleasantSounds]

How does the HD800 compare to 1500$ active nearfield monitors, SQ wise?

 
I have a pair of Yamaha HS8 and in terms of clarity and dynamics my feeling is they are superior to the HD800. They are not bass monsters though. If you have space for that, together with the HS8s sub that would be a killer combo which still fits comfortably within your budget.
 
Just keep in mind that speaker placement (mine are rear ported) and room treatment could be real issues which you will never have with headphones. In an untreated room 5" monitors may actually perform better.
 
If you feel inclined to go down this path, I'd recommend having a listening session in one of local stores and going through a few sets within your budget. When I got mine this is exactly what I did and was amazed at how different they all sounded. The HS8 were nowhere near the top of my list, but while listening it became quite clear to me that this is the sound I was after.

 

[skeptic]

Guys, just a warning, the GS-X MK2 amp has less than 1 ohm output impedance. It's not good for the HD800 according to Skeptic because it's not 40ohm output impedance and not made by Sennheiser.  Stay away(well atleast Skeptic should stay alway because his magic number is 40ohms).

Your reading comprehension really leaves something to be desired...please stop misconstruing and mischaracterizing me as some sort of absolutist.

I only suggested the anax mod or a higher ohm amp because of your particular comments about treble sensitivity, which many of us have dealt with to greater or lesser degrees. In fact, the same criticisms you have raised are exactly what lead anax, arnaud, purrin etc to work up and create various iterations of the mod that you have refused to consider. For your further reference, in addition to commenting on the impact of amp output impedance, anax and purrin have both stated that they do not care for the gsx mk2 with hd800s, even though it is a very popular pairing among some on HF. (Really wish the mods would relax the rules on linking certain other forums so you could read this all first hand.)

I haven't had the pleasure of hearing a gsx, but I do have dynahi boards and all of the discontinued transistors sitting on my bench - so maybe one day I will be able to weigh in on this to a greater degree. I have the utmost respect for Dr Gilmore's time tested designs, but my sense is still that dynalo derivatives may not be the ideal hd800 amp for those with high treble sensitivities. (As you may or may not be aware, dynalos were not designed with high impedance phones in mind.)

On the flip side, 40 ohms isn't some magic number (as far as I know). It is just what Senn chose for its own amp, which a lot of people seem to like on the SS side of the aisle. I have no personal experience with this product either (sorry Priidik!), but it stands to reason that its output impedance is in the range that the manufacturer thought was commendable from the standpoint of electrical damping.

I run my mainline with the output impedance set to 32 ohms, and on occasion bump it to 64 ohms when I feel like a change and a little more midbass. Bass response with hd800s is noticeably tighter and more linear, and generally preferable to me, at 32 ohms, although I'm sure opinions vary on this point. I can also tell you that I prefer my hotrodded crack (120 ohms) over my true 0 ohm agdr boosted / lme49990 modded o2 (http://www.agdraudio.com/Page2.html), which is the leanest and most treble happy of my amps with hd800s. I love it with my ADs though.

In any event, hope this clears a few matters up for you in terms of where I've been coming from. If you thought your hd800s sounded full, pleasing and accurate in terms of timbre (and not fatiguing) with a 0 ohm amp, then that would be the amp to stick with. Obviously that isn't the case. Time to man up and address the issues or cut your losses and quit the QQ'ing.

 

[SilverEars]

Actually, wouldn't the added output impedance drop the bass?  If you add significant impedance, there will be a power drop similar to the headphone impedance characteristic where the impedance peaks, where the bass is.  The damping factor has more to do with control of the drivers.  
 

 

 

[reddog]

What's the best 500$ DAC, or less, with HD800?

I feel a good dac for 500 would be schiit auditor's uber bifrost dac, however it's not balanced.

 

[whirlwind]

I am also thinking about a dac for about $500, and I am not at all against buying used.
 
What would be a good dac for the HD800 that would cost around $800 new....that i might find for alot less used  

 

[jsgraha]

Maybe a used one of this?

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/RE52/RE5.2EN.htm

 

[kkcc]

Maybe a used one of this?

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/RE52/RE5.2EN.htm

Yes, audio-gd delivers great value. I have the nfb28 and it works quite well with hd800 and have enough power to drive my he6 also.

 

[Priidik]

  Actually, wouldn't the added output impedance drop the bass?  If you add significant impedance, there will be a power drop similar to the headphone impedance characteristic where the impedance peaks, where the bass is.  The damping factor has more to do with control of the drivers.  

I think it this way: the hp-s characteristic impedance curve does not change when voltage source (amp) impedance changes.
However a close to 0 z amp does not make a voltage divider with the hp-s (all voltage is applied to the hp-s), but something like 100ohm z amp to HD800 will make a noticeable 
voltage divider, and then the  driver resonance impedance peak at 100Hz will claim more voltage than lower and higher frequencies. I might be wrong though 

 

 

[PleasantSounds]

  I think it this way: the hp-s characteristic impedance curve does not change when voltage source (amp) impedance changes.
However a close to 0 z amp does not make a voltage divider with the hp-s (all voltage is applied to the hp-s), but something like 100ohm z amp to HD800 will make a noticeable 
voltage divider, and then the  driver resonance impedance peak at 100Hz will claim more voltage than lower and higher frequencies. I might be wrong though 

 

 
I was thinking along the same lines, but in the end it's the amp that creates the voltage and impedance is only a measure of how much current will be drawn. So higher impedance = less power, yet we hear amplified sound in that range...
 
I think once we understand what is causing this impedance spike it may be easier to figure it out.
I'm speculating here, but to me seems plausible that the impecance rasises around 100 Hz because in this frequency range the transducer generates the most backcurrent. And what we hear with the higher output impedance amps is the result of this undampened backcurrent getting back into the headphones.